Daily Bible Reading, Week 33

Hello,and welcome to the Westside churches special Monday Morning Coffee podcast on this podcast,our preacher Mark Roberts will help you get your week started right.With look back at yesterday's sermon so that we can think through it further and better work the applications into our daily lives.Mark will then look forward into this week's Bible reading so that we can know what to expect and watch for.And,he may have some extra bonus thoughts from time to time.So grab a cup of coffee as we start the week together on Monday Morning Coffee with Mark.

Good morning. Good morning. Welcome to the Monday Morning Coffee podcast for Monday, August the 14th. I'm Mark holding a great cup of coffee and I'm ready to talk to you about daily Bible reading. If you're thinking, where's my stuff about the sermon yesterday? Can't be doing that. Can't be doing that. I didn't get to preach at Westside yesterday. I'm in Burnett , Texas this week in a gospel meeting from Sunday to Wednesday. Brother Darryl Trammel , the good brethren here in Burnett , love this church. I've been here before and I'm excited about the opportunity to preach the gospel here and to be with these good folks, which means can't talk about what happened yesterday in the pulpit at West Side . Got to go straight to daily Bible reading or reading in Jeremiah 52 this week. And then we're gonna read Obadiah and we're gonna start the book of Lamentations. And wow, this may not be the happiest week in daily Bible reading because the stuff we're reading about this week is kind of tough stuff, but it is important and we want to get what God has put here by the Holy Spirit and benefit from it. Let's get our Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 52 and get ready to start the week in daily Bible reading. So let's do our reading for Monday. Monday's reading again, Jeremiah 52, 1 to 16 and this material is very similar to the material in Chronicles and especially two kings chapter 24 into chapter 25, which details very clearly what happened to Jerusalem so that everyone would understand the judgment of God falling on God's city where God had made his name to dwell. And so Jeremiah presents the fate of Jerusalem here and the fate of the kings as well. All of this reinforces Jeremiah's words came to pass and that does provide hope for the future because Jeremiah has talked about the future and what God is going to do in the future as he continues to activate his plan to restore sinful men and women to redeem you and me to himself. So there'll be a lot of wow, is God just all done with us? And the answer to that is no, he is not. But for today it's pretty bleak. Jeremiah 52 verse one begins with Zeka being 21 years old when he became king and he did verse two, what was evil on the side of the Lord? Remember Bible history is about God's verdict on you, on your conduct, on your righteousness. Did you do what God told you to do? It's not about how good a politician you were. Did you bring economic recovery? Were you good in foreign relations? None of that matters in the Bible. What matters is did you do what God told you to do? And the answer to that is Zedekiah did not. And thus the verdict on his life is he utterly failed. In fact, Jeremiah came to him multiple times and he refused to really listen to the word of the Lord. He would hear what Jeremiah had to say, but he did not do what God told him to do. Thus Juda verse three is cast out from his presence. They are exiled from the promised land. Underline that please in your Bible notice they have been removed from the land of Canaan. Then we get some specific details about this in verse seven, there was a breach made in the city that may have been a gate that had been sealed up, was opened up, and it seems that that AKIs men did this. This doesn't seem like the Babylonians broke in. They tried to break out and escape what a bunch of weasels. What a bunch of cowards. They are caught and verse 10 is just awful Zakiah sons, his sons are killed in front of his eyes and then he is blinded. The last thing he sees is his children dying in front of him. What a wretched, wretched scene this is. And yet Jeremiah repeatedly warned and begged Zeki to do what was right. Remember, submit to the Yoko Babylon, Nope , not doing that. Too smart to be doing that. Now he result or he reaps what he has sown , the result is terrible destruction. And then the end of our reading today, beginning in verse 12, down to verse 16, details that the house of the Lord was burnt down, burnt down. I wanna say more about that tomorrow. Think about the temple being destroyed. See tomorrow we'll finish Jeremiah 52. It is Tuesday and today we are reading Jeremiah 52 verses 17 to 30 and there's more discussion now of the destruction of the temple of the Lord. The pillars of bronze verse 17 were taken away pots and shovels and dishes. Verse 18, we wonder, maybe those were replacements that had been made because Nebuchadnezzar ransack the temple in an earlier invasion. All of this is taken away and the temple is utterly destroyed. Very hard for us to get ahold of how devastating this would be to the Jews. We don't have anything like the temple today. If the church building got bulldozed, we would just meet under a tree or rent a hall or go to a hotel banquet room or something or something because the building itself is not vested with holiness and significance. God's presence does not dwell here in the way in any kind of way like what happened with the original temple. So this is just a horrible blow to the Jews. It leaves them reeling and they are in exile wondering, is God just all done with us? Is God just completely through with the Jewish people? The chapter goes on then beginning in verse 24 to give us some more graphic details of the high price of rebellion. More people are executed. This is what happens when you rebel against the Babylonians and this is the third time and Nebuchadnezzar's done with it. He , God's not done with the Jewish people, but uh , had all of this he needed in 6 0 5 he showed up and made them a vassal state. In 5 97 they rebelled and he drug a whole bunch of people off in captivity and they're dumb enough to do it again. In 5 86 under the leadership of Zetia , they rebel again. And Nebuchadnezzar says no more of this. And so anybody who could lead a rebellion, who could show some leadership quality, those people are put to death. There are some verses then beginning in about verse 28 that are not given to us in Second King. Some of these numbers here that help us a little bit and then and then and then all this darkness, all this stuff that's so hard to read. Look at verse 31, Jehoiachin the king who ruled three months in 5 97 when Jeh come , his father died. JE come . His father is the guy that burned the scroll that Jeremiah wrote for him. Je also known as Je Aniah in the book of Matthew and Aya , he is restored. Oh my. Oh my. There it is. There's God still at work. There's God still doing something. This is such an impressive passage because of the promise to David in two Samuel. Seven is not over, is it? God is still at work even though his people are ridiculously wicked. What an incredible note. Verse 31, in the 37th year of the exile of King Jehan, that is five 60 bc 560 years before , uh, roughly the birth of Jesus. God is at work and God as he always does, is keeping his word. Tomorrow we read a little book of the Bible that nobody ever reads. We're going to the book of Obadiah . It is Wednesday. Today's my last day for the gospel meeting and burn it . I'll be coming home tonight. Colton McDaniel is speaking for us tonight at West Side and he'll help us with the case for Christianity. We are in our daily Bible reading, reading in the book of Obadiah . This is a very neglected little book of the Bible . It is an important book because it is in the Bible. Maybe we need a big dose of that attitude. Sometimes if it's in the Bible, it's God's word and we want to know what it has to say. This is an unusual book because it is not to the Israelites, it's not to the Jews, it is to the Edomites. And it was written in about 5 86 BC when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Babylon, I'm sorry, destroyed Jerusalem when Babylon destroyed Jerusalem and its temple and its message is to the Edomites. That's a kingdom located south of the Dead Sea and it preaches judgment on the Edomites. There's really three sections here in this little book verses one to nine, anticipate a day of the Lord verses 10 to 14 talk about the day of the Lord for the Edomites. And then verses 15 to 21 are remembering a day of calamity for Judah. It's just one chapter, not much here to read, but much to think about because it's all rooted in the history of the Israelites and their history with the Edomites. Edem is just another name for Esau . These are the children of Esau. So it goes all the way back to the days of Jacob and Esau. In Genesis chapter 27, Esau hated Jacob and as a result his descendants and Jacob's descendants never got along. The eNotes hated the Jacobites. Well, they're not called the jacobites are they? What are they called? They're called the Israelites. And Eden was very hostile to Israel after the Exodus. That's in Exodus 15. And Eden is numbered among the enemies of the Israelites in one Samuel Luke chapter 14, beginning in verse 47, David puts the Edomites down but not completely eliminated. They continue to war against the Israelites and in fact, Lamentations chapter four will be reading Lamentations starting tomorrow. Lamentations, I'm sorry, starting on Friday. Lamentations tells us the fourth chapter that they exalted when Jerusalem was destroyed, all they were thrilled to death. Look at those Jews. They're getting what they deserve. That certainly accords with the history of the time that we know from secular sources. There is no indication that the mites were subdued by Nebuchadnezzar like Amon and Moab and Judah were maybe, maybe they followed Jeremiah's advice and wore the yo of Babylon. In Jeremiah chapter 27 and verse three, ultimately perhaps under the rule of Naus, the last of the Babylonian rulers, Edem is destroyed and they eventually disappear completely off the off the page of history and off the earth. And that is the theme of the book of Obadiah . You exalt when the Jews are destroyed, when Judea was subjugated by the Babylonians. Your day is absolutely coming. Verse one in fact summarizes the entire message of verses one denied the vision of Obadiah . We by the way, don't know anything about Obadiah , thus says the Lord God. Concerning Edam, we've heard a report from the Lord and a messenger's been sent among the nations. Rise up, let us rise up against her for battle. And the problem here is pride. Verses three and four, rooted in their geographical strength. They have built cities on the mountains that are very high up and they think they are virtually invincible to any kind of army, but they are still vulnerable to the power of God. In fact, in verse five, notice the emphasis on how there would not be a remnant. Nothing left, nothing left for the gleaners, nothing left for them. Not a remnant like Judea was promised. The Jews are promised a remnant, but no, nothing like that is given to the Edomites. Finally, notice verse eight in that day is a common expression in prophetic literature signifying a specific time when God intervenes to bring judgment and sometimes redemption and salvation. But God is destroying the Edomites and all their famed wisdom is not going to change that in any way. More about this tomorrow as we continue in the book of Obadiah , it's Thursday and we're completing the book of Obadiah Today. Our reading is Obadiah chapter one verses 10 to 21. And here we open with the violence they did to their brother Jacob. Verse 10, this is the Edomites as they watch, notice that they are held guilty just for watching and gloating verses 11 and 12 over the destruction of Jerusalem. Don't gloat. Verse 13 over this disaster. Then finally verse 14, don't stand at the cross crossroads and cut off the fugitives. That's the verse that a lot of scholars use to date this book, looking for a time when Eden was an ally of Babylon and a time when the mites rejoiced at the fall of Jerusalem really seems like there's only one possible date that would fit that criteria and that would be the 5 86 destruction of Jerusalem. So the day of the Lord verse 15 is near. This is another great place for us to build our prophetic lexicon, that series of phrases so that we understand the Bible. The day of the Lord is the day when God decisively acts to set things right and to put down those who are his enemies. And so there's been a day of the Lord, a decisive action of God upon Jerusalem and there's gonna be a day of the Lord for the Edomites as well. God is acting and a lot of that sinners on Mount Zion. There's a lot of Messianic prophecy associated with Zion. It's one of the seven hills on which Jerusalem stood at one time it was a stronghold for the Jebusites. David captures it. He brings the art there and eventually moves it across to Mariah. But Psalms will use Zion to mean all of Jerusalem giving Jerusalem kind of high status as the ideal place. Notice that in Psalm 48 for example, it is the place where God's blessings will come from, from Psalm 137. So it is the place where God dwells and the prophets use Zion as a metaphor for the dwelling of God. And here this is about the about the remnant who are going to escape this judgment of God by the blessings of God. But without any question, there is a monster judgment coming here. And the message in verse 18, particularly for those in the captivity is, Hey, you look defeated and edem looks victorious, but things are going to change. They will be brought down and you will possess your land Again, this is a book of hope. Didn't think you were gonna see that in the book of Obadiah . Did you see some of these books? We just don't pay a lot of attention to 'em. And when we really sit down and we work on 'em, we work through those questions in our Bible reading schedule, we start saying, what is God doing? What is God saying ? How does God feel about this? What's God saying about this? We use this material to understand and draw closer to the Lord. All of a sudden we're like, oh, but God , this is, this is a great book. This is so important. Then there is a final section here, 19 20 21 with some discussion here of the kingdom. And it seems to be maybe thinking of a nation that's doing right and living in covenant harmony with God. In verse 21, the Kingdom shall be the Lord's. I'm impressed with Obadiah . This is a book that says something about pride that's been on our radar this year as we've read in the prophets. And it is a book that talks about God is at work when it looks like God isn't at work. Oh, we need to think about that. Oh, we need to think about that. God can work even when it looks like God's people have been defeated. There's no hope for them. Oh God will still keep his promises. Don't think for a moment that God is gonna let his people down and that God isn't going to do exactly what he has said. He will do so much of that in the book of Obadiah . Hope that you're kind of pleased to have had the chance to read Obadiah and now we'll turn to another book of the Bible that people do not like to read. Let's get ready for Friday. I'll see you tomorrow and we'll talk about Lamentations <affirmative> . It is Friday, we made it through another week. I'm excited about being with you on Sunday at West Side for back to school Sunday. We'll have a prayer service, get to preach a back to school message. It's always one of the best Sundays of the year. I'm excited to be home and to be with you on Sunday. Before we get to Sunday though, we're gonna talk about the Book of Lamentations. This is a tough book to read in a happy all the time . Society that wants to never have anything that's a downer or depressing. This is not going to be anybody's favorite book of the Bible, but we do well if I can borrow from the language of Ecclesiastes to go to the house of mourning , to go to Jeremiah's Lamentations, that the living might take it to heart. We need to take this book much more seriously. We need to get in the Book of Lamentations and see what the book of Lamentations is teaching us about the work of God. A lament here in Lamentations is in fact a wailing, it is sadness and grief over the destruction and humiliation of Jerusalem. And while the, the book does not say specifically that Jeremiah wrote it, he is clearly the best choice for an author. Two Chronicles 35 25 says that he did lament. And it sounds like Jeremiah, I'm going with Jeremiah if you're wondering when the book was written. Well, of course it was written in 5 86 when Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian army showed up in burned Jerusalem and the temple down. And I'm gonna say again, we really struggle to grasp the magnitude of the destruction of the temple and what that meant to the, to the heart of the Jewish people. And even more so the destruction of the city itself. If, if Dallas got raised to the ground like Jerusalem did, we would all remember that and mark things by that and just be reeling from the destruction and all the horrible and awful things that occur in such a, in , in , in that kind of siege. And then finally the enemy breaks in and, and kills and destroys and takes people into captivity and then burns everything down. It . It would just be an enormous event that we would never forget. And that's exactly what happened to Jerusalem. And on top of how badly we would feel if a secular city was destroyed, Jerusalem was the city of God. So Jeremiah be whales and, and mourns and cries over this terrible, terrible judgment that he had been saying would come think about that from Jeremiah's standpoint. And it is a special series of poems. They are acrostic poems. You may be familiar with Psalm 119, the famous Psalm to the word of God. Every stanza. The lines in that stanza began with the corresponding letter of the Hebrew alphabet. So the first stanza is aif and and the lines begin with AIF as the word of God is extolled and praise. Well, the Book of Lamentations, each verse begins with a corresponding letter of the alphabet. Chapter three then is a triple acrostic , uh, doing that three times over. And this acrostic format is designed maybe to help people memorize this so they could sing this sad song. But more probably it's just about showing complete and total grief. We are crying from A to Z and maybe this is a place to discuss the value of the book. Lemme get a little swig coffee here. What , what's the value of the book? Why are we reading about all of this? Well, first and foremost, it helps us think about the problem of suffering from a national level. The Book of Lamentation does not talk about why good people are caught up in the suffering that's brought by wicked people, good people like Jeremiah who suffered terribly because everybody around him wouldn't listen to him and do what God told them to do. And so Jeremiah, yes, Jeremiah hurts and all the things that go on in this terrible invasion and siege and the destruction of the city. Why does that happen to good people? Lamentations doesn't talk about that. What Lamentations talks about is a nation that's held responsible on the national level. Please remember that like during the time of King David when everybody was doing right or most everybody was doing right because the king was doing right then the land would be blessed. That freedom from invaders and lots of rain and the farms would prosper. You could be wicked over there by yourself, most nearly everybody else is doing right. You could be wicked over there, not really serving God with all your heart. You would still get the rain , you would still do well. So in a similar kind of fashion you could be doing right over there all by yourself, Jeremiah, but most, most people, most is not a word, but it should be most of his people doing wrong. And here comes judgment on a national level. We began the year reading Deuteronomy 28, 29, 30, 31, and 32 . Remember that? And that pronounces the blessings and the curses on the nation. So this is about national level suffering and how God is true to his word and true to his promises that if they did not do what was right, they would in fact suffer the penalty for their sins. The other thing that I would say is it utterly validates everything that Jeremiah and the other prophets have said for so long, 40 something years, Jeremiah preached, he had warned this destruction was going to come and it now finally has fallen. And as a result of that, God's word has been completely, completely validated. Listen to Jeremiah. He is God's man. He is speaking God's word. And while the people still left in Jerusalem, the bad figs, if you will, Jeremiah chapter 24, those who wouldn't listen to Jeremiah, the people in exile, they are going to listen. They will listen to Ezekiel now. And the people are ready to humble themselves. They are learning the lesson of destruction in captivity. Well, that's a lot to set up. The Book of Lamentations, the first chapter is an easy read. It's not hard to understand. Verse two talks about how all of , uh, all of Judea allies have deserted her. They're always seeking foreign alliances. Egypt's gonna bail us out. We're gonna run a rebellion against Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon and it's gonna work because the Egyptians will loan us their army. They'll come and fight with us. And of course, none of those political alliances ever worked. Jeremiah always warned against them. None of those alliances stood up for them and they're utterly destroyed. Verse five, because the Lord has afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions. That's what matters. This is why this happened . Several chapters, several verses in these chapters identify, this is the work of God. This was foreseen in the covenant. Again, Deuteronomy 28, verse 44, for example, underline the verses where God says, I did this. Like verse 12, which the Lord inflicted on the day of his fierce anger. This is about spiritual adultery. Verse seven, verse eight. This is about how sin wears you down and wears you out. Verse 14, transgressions, were bound like a yoke , fastening you together. You can't do anything, can't go anywhere because you got all these sins weighing you down. And the Lord is in the right. Verse 18. That's what's needed. There needs to be confession. God is doing what's right. We are the ones who have done what is wrong. Chapter one concludes then with an appeal to God to bring judgment upon Babylon. Look at them. They're wicked. They are an instrument in your hand, God against us, but they need to be judged as well. And of course, from the book of Habakkuk, we know that they will be read Lamentations chapter one, work through those questions. What's God saying? Is this a text that's a word of judgment or in some ways is it a word of hope? We're gonna need to think more about that, particularly when we get to those famous verses in Lamentations, the third chapter. But I want you to think through Lamentations. One soak in what is a bitter and difficult chapter because it's teaching us about God who does bring judgment. Somebody says, oh, God won't send anybody to hell. Have you read Lamentations? That's what it's there for. It's there to help us know. God isn't kidding when he tells us He will judge sin. He will put an end to sinfulness. That's the book of Lamentations. That's Lamentations chapter one. Well, thanks for listening to the podcast. I hope it's helping you. Hope you have followed or subscribed , uh, so that you will receive the podcast automatically on your device. Please give us a review and tell folks about it until Sunday, back to school Sunday. How great is that? Or maybe for some of you, those of you who won't be able , uh, we have so many listeners, just literally all over the world, people are downloading the podcast. I know not everybody's gonna be able to be at West Side Sunday, but wherever you are, I'll look. I look forward to seeing you on Monday. I hope the Lord is with you today, all day, and I will. I'll see you on Monday with a cup of coffee.

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